Saturday, February 21, 2015

Joe O’Donnell, the man who took this photo at Nagasaki, was sent by
the U.S. military to document the damage inflicted on the Japanese
homeland caused by air raids of fire bombs and atomic bombs.

Over the
next seven months starting September 1945, he traveled across Western
Japan chronicling the devastation, revealing the plight of the bomb
victims including the dead, the wounded, the homeless and orphaned.
Images of the human suffering was etched both on his negatives and his
heart.

In the photo, the boy stands erect, having done his duty by bringing
his dead brother to a cremation ground. Standing at attention was an
obvious military influence. Looking at the boy who carries his younger
sibling on his back, keeps a stiff upper lip, tries so hard to be brave
is heart-breaking. He has epitomized the spirit of a defeated nation.

Sometimes later Joe O’Donnell spoke to a Japanese interviewer about this picture:

“I saw a boy about ten years old walking
by. He was carrying a baby on his back. In those days in Japan, we often
saw children playing with their little brothers or sisters on their
backs, but this boy was clearly different. I could see that he had come
to this place for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face
was hard. The little head was tipped back as if the baby were fast
asleep. The boy stood there for five or ten minutes.”

“The men in white masks walked over to
him and quietly began to take off the rope that was holding the baby.
That is when I saw that the baby was already dead. The men held the body
by the hands and feet and placed it on the fire. The boy stood there
straight without moving, watching the flames. He was biting his lower
lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flame burned low like the sun
going down. The boy turned around and walked silently away.”

Few actors in history have been hallowed in as many points of the
political compass as Abraham Lincoln. During the 1930s, portraits of
Lincoln appeared at New York City rallies of American fascists and in
the publications of American Communists. He was also the favourite of
the most reactionary industrialists and the most advanced liberals of
the time. “Getting Right with Lincoln,” as the historian David Donald
has described it, has been requisite for all political elements in the
United States.1

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is widely regarded as the definitive
description and rationale of American nationhood and is the cornerstone
of his fame. It has been memorized and declaimed by generations of
schoolchildren. Its cadenced phrases are part of the American vernacular
and have moved millions around the world.

One might wonder why this short and rather abstract composition, hardly
remarked upon at the time it was given at Gettysburg a few months after
the great battle there, has achieved such importance. Part of the answer
is surely Lincoln’s great rhetorical skill. In the Gettysburg Address
(and other orations) he performs successfully the difficult feat of
having it both ways. He appears in the famous brief oration as both the
conservator of the sacred old Union and the herald of “a new birth of
freedom.” Rhetorically, he encompasses right and left, the revered past
and the longed-for ideal future.

Santification of the Address has not gone entirely unchallenged in
America, however. The iconoclastic Henry Louis Mencken, writing in 1920,
described Lincoln as “the American solar myth, the chief butt of
American credulity and sentimentality.” Of the Gettysburg Address,
Mencken wrote:

Semantic precision – for the purpose of this post, “anarchy”
means a complete absence of coercive rulers; “social good” means a
beneficial economic or social result for ALL participants in a given
transaction or activity.

Frequently we hear statists proclaim that anarchy can never work. Let’s give that some thought.
For starters, they invariably neglect to define that term as they
understand its meaning. The implication that must be drawn however is
that they view anarchy, not as defined above, but as just another
political system like democracy. The thought that anarchy, since it
involves no ruler(s), is in fact the absolute opposite of a political
system never seems to occur to them.

Mrs. Lenore Radway, left, and Miss Sherley Becker polish a torpedo flask
in 1943 at the Amertorp Torpedo Ordnance Corporation in Forest Park,
Illinois. As many as 6,500 workers churned out hundreds of torpedoes per
month, a long-forgotten but crucial part of the war effort.

West Midlands have confirmed they are investigation a racially
aggravated attack against a white woman who had recently moved to a flat
in Coventry.

Sammie Sunter, 24, received a note saying ‘This area is black so f***
off’ after racist locals stuck it through her front door. The
attackers, who apparently believed the area should be the exclusive
preserve of one social group also smeared the front door with paint and
what was described as “human faeces” just five days after she moved in,
the metro reports.

The mother, who lives with her two sons Harvey Anderson, two, and
Oscar Rock, five, was told that the flat she had just moved into was
‘for black sisters and brothers’. She was handed the keys from housing
association, Whitefriars, last Wednesday and then worked hard decorating
her son’s bedrooms. She left the flat at 1600hrs on Sunday to return
the next morning to the filth on her front door.

In yet another example of the sort of knee jerk, over reactive, nanny
state governance that we have come to expect from New York, NY State
Senator Tony Avella of Queens is proposing to ban people from possessing
machetes.

The politician said Wednesday that the sale of machetes should be outlawed after several recent attacks. His bill, S03199, adds “Machete” to the same list of outlawed “Deadly Weapons”
in which you will find switchblade and gravity knives. Potential
penalties for violations under that section are up to a year behind
bars.

“The fact that anyone can easily purchase this potentially lethal tool is just crazy,” he said, failing to recognize that this bill suggests that HIS sanity is what should be questioned.

On February 19, the Los Angeles Times reacted to the
growing momentum for Campus Carry legislation across the country by
referring to the NRA as “crackpots” and reminding the organization that
it is the government’s “responsibility to protect the public through
reasonable gun control laws.”

In other words, “shall not be infringed” does not mean shall not be regulated and/or controlled.

There are several Roman historical sources describing the background and events of the Teutoburg Forest Massacre—Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Florus, and Velleius Paterculus—but none of them were there, and there is by no means agreement on the detail. Varus’s route through the forest, the number of days it took, and the events during that time are disputed. Recent archeology discoveries have helped immensely. In 1987, Major Tony Clunn, a British Army officer and amateur archeologist, using a metal detector, discovered a large area of Roman military artifacts and animal and human bones at the foot of Kalkriese Hill near the northern end of the Teutoburg Forest. Yet we must still rely on logical dotted lines to reconstruct the full story, especially the events within the forest itself.

In this series, I have primarily relied upon Cassius Dio, the only writer who describes much of the battle itself; Velleius Paterculus, who knew personally many of the participants; and recent archeology to draw my own dotted lines. Paterculus is important because he was a contemporary Roman cavalry officer as well as a historian. He probably served with Arminius during the Balkan campaign, and he knew Varus personally. In accessing the character of these men, he favors Arminius. In addition, I found the detail of Roman historical and archeological background in Adrian Murdoch’s 2006 book, Rome’s Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest, invaluable.

In my opinion, some modern historians rely more heavily on the archeology than should be warranted, because the archeology is in abundance only at Kalkriese. A minority even propose that Kalkriese was the only battle, but I find their arguments unconvincing. Recent archeology has also identified a scattering of Roman artifacts over a relatively narrow path 15 miles long.

Late in the afternoon of September 10, Varus probably realized without doubt that he had been betrayed by Arminius and that a large part of the foreign auxiliary cohorts had either joined Arminius or deserted. He probably realized that even his loyal Roman cavalry wings had proved useless in forest combat, protecting his flanks, and effective reconnaissance. Many of his senior officers had been killed or wounded. Varus may have been wounded himself. Only about 8,000 Roman soldiers would be fit for duty the next day. At this point he probably called on his deputy commander and leader of one of the elite cavalry wings, Numonius Vala, to take his remaining force of about 300 cavalry on the best remaining horses and ride for help. There were two other Roman Legions, the 1st and 5th, posted in Mainz, west of the Rhine, commanded by Varus’s nephew, Lucius Nonius Asprenas. They could also ask their Frisian allies to come to their aid. Paterculus, however, claims that although Vala had always been a man of honor before, he rode off with the intention of desertion.

Whatever Vala’s motivation, he rode off to the north but came to a quick and bloody end. His tired cavalry force was quickly overtaken by a larger Germanic cavalry force, probably German Auxiliary cavalry led by Arminius. Neither Vala nor any of his Roman cavalry survived. This scene may have been in plain view of Varus and his officers. Later that evening, Varus, assisted by a military servant, fell on his sword in expiation for his defeat and perhaps to avoid German torture and sacrifice to their war-gods. Both Varus’s father and grandfather had died the same way. Many of his senior officers also committed suicide in the same manner. This was considered honorable by the Romans, but it left the remaining Roman force of 8,000 without senior officer leadership.

On the morning of September 11, the two camp commanders (prefects) for the 17th and 18th Legions, Lucius Eggius and Ceionius were left in command of 8,000 Roman troops and many wounded. They organized into two battle groups of 4,000 each, the 17th Legion and the remnants of the 19th Legion under Eggius, and the 18th Legion and the remnants of the auxiliary cohorts under Ceionius.

On September 7, Lucius Caedicius, Prefect for the 19th Legion, had been ordered to proceed to the camp at Aliso (Haltern) with enough men and supplies to set up camp there. Fortunately, he had taken most of the wives, children, and family baggage of the three legions with him. On September 11, Caedicius was just arriving at Aliso. Within days, their palisades would be assaulted by Germanic tribes. But the Germans knew little about laying siege to an enemy camp, and after several days of assaults gave up, allowing Caedicius, his troops, and the women and children to escape across the Rhine to safety. Unable to catch Caedicius, the Germans came back and burned the deserted camp at Aliso.

Eggius led his 4,000-man battle group out of the camp (now called Felsenfeld), to the northwest and found that they were trapped between the 350-foot Kalkriese Hill on their left and impassable marshes on the right with less than 100 yards separating the two. In addition, at least 500 yards of ramparts made of turf, limestone, and sand, about 5 feet high and 15 feet wide, had been built on the slope of the hill, narrowing possible passage. These ramparts were topped with a 4.5-foot palisade of posts connected by flexible tree limbs, protecting a defender up to his chest and allowing the Germans to hurl javelins and shower the Romans with spears, rocks, and arrows. The German ramparts had gates to release cavalry and infantry attacks, panicking and mauling attempted Roman troop formations. Behind the rampart was a drainage ditch to prevent erosion by heavy rains. It probably took the Germans two to three weeks to construct these Roman-style ramparts. The ramparts were manned by a relatively fresh German force of perhaps 15,000 including the Cherusci, the Bructeri, and now the Anglivarii from the north. The Angrivarii had a reputation for fierce independence. To be continued.

.......31 percent cannot join because of multiple felonies and other moral issues such as drug use or other law violations........

................The other major category that disqualifies 17 to 24-year-olds is lack of fitness/obesity and other medical issues........

.........29 percent who could qualify, here is the breakdown that LTC Patton and
his staff shared with me. Only 15 percent of individuals age 17 to 24
have any interest in joining the military. Only one percent is serious
enough to speak with a recruiter, and only half of a percent join.

The Equality Court sitting in the Western Cape High Court will hear
arguments on Tuesday in a hate speech case against Afrikaans singer
Sunette Bridges.

The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has accused Bridges of hosting
commentary on her Facebook page which constituted hate speech, the
commission's lawyer Brigit Rubinstein said in a statement on Monday.

"The
SAHRC contends that Ms Bridges is in violation of section 10(1) of the
Equality Act, in that she has committed hate speech, and is also in
violation of section 11 of the Equality Act which deals with harassment
on the basis of race.

Remembrance

Winners: Navy Cross Nguyen Van Kiet & MOH Thomas R. Norris This week’s Medal of Honor hero is one of a handful of Navy SEALs awarded the MOH in the Vietnam War. Norris snuck behind enemy lines with a South Vietnamese Navy petty officer rescued two downed pilots in 1972–when most of our resources had been pulled from the country. Interesting to note that later year, Norris was himself rescued by another SEAL Michael E. Thornton.More @ Medal of Honor Roll Call

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
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My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.

Thank you

I would just like you to know how so very glad I am that I found your blog. I have learned more history from you and the many links that you post than I have from reading all my history books. I can never thank you enough for the education you are freely giving me. It is priceless. And eye opening.

Many times I will not comment, but that does not mean I am not reading and learning.

You sir, are an educator. Thank you.

PhyllisWantage, NJ

Good morning Mr. Townsend,

Just to let you know I have finally finished that massive tome on General Lee. I never knew 1/10th of what a great man he was. No wonder the South is so proud of him! So sad that we have few men of his caliber today. We need them desperately. I have learned more history through you and your blog than I thought I could ever learn. I am very grateful to you. Thank you so much for taking time to answer my e-mail. And thank you for your blog and for opening my eyes.

PhyllisWantage, NJ

".......So good to hear from you! And also so pleased you are converting more of us Yankees! You have no idea how many people you have taught. And how many are so grateful to you for showing us the truth."

Your faithful friend,

Phylis

==============================

I have also learned from Brock Townsend and two nurses lately, that appreciation expressed by someone for whom you have great respect overwhelms the lack of appreciation by some from whom you expect it. I believe that we cannot really know which small bit of help makes the life-saving difference. ﻿I may have learned more real American history on Brock's blog than in 20 years of government schooling.

I have learned more history from you than all the years I was supposed to be in school (and not out hunting or fishing).

==============================

I really must say, I like thousands of others have said, your blog is the best out there and with all of your history and experience, you should run for *president. I look forward to reading your blog every day and every day I learn from you. Thank you for the time you put into this effort .

Sincerely,

Scott Fitts

*It would have to be an improvement. :) BT

==============================

Hi Brock,

Ever since I picked up on your blog I "Knew" you were a "Gentleman of the South!" You lack the "Crassness" that is so prevalent in today's Sociopolitical arena but speak with the Firmness in Truth and Conviction of Right like the words of our Late Great President Jefferson Davis! That is Honorable.

I have been thinking about this for a while now. At first it was a very subtle notice, then it became larger as I saw more. Then it bloomed to me to be what it is. In your writings, in your Blog, Brock, "You" have written, posted and done more to eradicate the "Revisionist History" forced on us by the "Northern Aggressors,"BAR NONE!!!" The "Stars and Bars" fly High and Proud today even more thanks to your efforts!

Reading your post on 03 JUNE about the birthday of President Jefferson Davis and the "quotes" of his was the galvanizing statement! The first words of "His" you posted say so much, are timeless and can never be "Destroyed!" by any man! .......and those words were........

"Truth crushed to the earth is still truth still and like a seed will rise again."--Jefferson Davis (1808-1889)

In so many ways you and your efforts to keep and carry on the "Truth of the South" are the water and light of the Sun that nourish "That Seed" that Jefferson Davis speaks of! That "Seed" of "Southern Truth!" That cannot be vanquished because of efforts like Men as yourself!

Thanks for your selfless effort,

The "Stars and Bars" FLY!

Got gunz....OUTLAW?

III%,

skybill-out

=============================

Dear Mr. Townsend,

I wanted to write to thank you for the pleasure and education I have received from reading your blog "Free North Carolina". I can honestly say that FNC is one of the first sites I visit daily.

I am a northerner by birth yet I consider the vilification of all things "South" a true and tragic disgrace. Your work has enabled me to become more familiar with a culture that I admire, yet have never really been familiar with.

Keep up the outstanding work!

A friend north of the Mason-Dixon Line,

Bob

===============================

My good sir,

I have been reading your blog for years, filling-in the woeful gaps in my knowledge thanks to your efforts, and have been truly impressed with not merely the depth and breadth of the topics you broach, but the frank and honest way you deal with them.

I salute you.

You cannot imagine my immense delight at just reading the "Witting, intentionally, and willfully..." posted on your site, that you linked to Theo Spark's blog.

I'm the guy that wrote it and sent it to Theo a few days ago.

On both our behalves, thank you for posting it on your fine blog.

With warmest personal regards,

Rico

refzip.com

http://refzip.com/

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